Whirlpool of Time
by DramaDelicacy
Summary: .:DISCONTINUED:.She has all the rotten luck in the world. Surviving the massacre is not enough. She just happen to be so "lucky" that she meet the ones who destroyed her village. xItaxSakux
1. Part 1:Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in the story. The song does not belong to me, it's under the copyright of the Anime "Tsubasa Chronicle" and the singer FictionJunction KAORI.

Author's note: None of the Akatsuki members died. Even though it still follows the manga's plot, but none of the members died. Sasuke thought he'd kill Itachi but he did not.

-*+-*+-*+-

Part One

Prologue

You will always be the darkness.

While I'll always be the light.

_Far in the light, I can see it_

_In every scene of the night_

_A tiny feather of love._

Our meeting was so sudden and unexpected.

It was also rough and amazingly painful… for me anyways.

_I gotta go_

_Destiny never finds the way for me, my love._

I know I needed you.

I know I can't bear to be away from you. And I know you know what I thought I knew.

_Even in the light I see your face, in the dark_

_So I never lose my way to you_

_I never close my heart_

_The light is always there._

It's hard for me every time we had to part, and I somehow hoped you felt the same way.

But what can I do? I was just your little pet, was I not?

_Time goes by, we can never stay the same_

_Now we've come so far from love memory_

_Though your smile has gone, we will never be apart_

_In our hearts we are one, for love melody_

_The future arrives… with your love._

All I can do now is to pray for your safety.

And wait until you'll come back to me.

The way you always have…

-*+-*+-*+-

Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno. I am but fifteen years old. Today, my village was destroyed by a terrible group known as the _Akatsuki_.

The Hokage, a woman I'd love to call "mother", was killed because she ran out of chakra, our energy source. She was attacked while she was weak and I was unable to safe her; both of my hands were full with little children crying for their parents. I saw her head chopped off from her body. I heard the _thump_ when her head hit the ground. And I saw her killer, a man named Deidara… the one that kidnapped the Kazekage of the Sand Country, Gaara.

My best-girl-friend, a girl I'd love to spend my time with, cry with, and fight with was killed by a woman with blue hair. I was unable to save her the way she saved me when we were small. I was there and I saw the death of my best-friend. I saw her terrified expression when the paper covered her body. And I heard the _splotch_ when she was squished easily, just like squeezing a tomato I'd bet.

My best-boy-friend, a boy I used to despise, a boy I'd love to cry with, fight with, talk to, kissed, and hugged was killed by seven people at once. His demon fox… seemed to not be working, even though Naruto did come just in time to safe some people. But seven against one were too much. Again, I was there, with no children in my hands, they all ran away and had been killed. They were too fast and even though I jumped in front of Naruto for hundreds of times with all of my strength _just_ to protect Naruto from getting harmed, it was not enough. In the end, Naruto was still killed. And he smiled at me. A smile I'd die for to forget, a smile so horribly warm that I'd kill myself just to get away from the guilt and misery. A smile that was ended by a loud _boom_.

And yet, here I was, alive.

I had no idea how much tear I'd shed. How much sweat I'd sweat and how much blood I'd poured.

In the middle of the chaos, I could only think of a few things.

My hometown was destroyed.

I was an orphan.

I got no place to go.

Everyone I loved was now dead.

And…

I was, of all people, through hard luck, through terrible luck, was _alive_.

-*+-*+-*+-

Hey guys, that's it for the Prologue. I really hope you enjoy it.

P.S. Thanks so much to JUCHKO~ for fixing all of my grammar mistakes. And well, I am disappointed you refuse to continue on reading but I do understand and I am in so much appreciation to you. =Edited already=

Thanks once again.

~me sweets lover.


	2. Cold Breeze

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

Author's note: The story is divided into 2 parts. The first part will be told from Sakura's Point Of View while the second part will be told from Itachi's. Shame on me for forgetting to mention anything on the Prologue, I am sorry.

P.S. The Akatsuki's members' ages are not beyond 30, this includes Tobi. 

Deidara: 20 years old.

Konan: 26 years old.

Pein: 28 years old.

Hidan: 27 years old.

Tobi: 29 years old.

Kakuzu: 27 years old.

Zetsu: 25 years old.

Itachi: 20 years old.

Kisame: 27 years old.

P.P.S. Sasori is still dead.

-*+-*+-*+-

Chapter One: Cold Breeze

I felt the hard objects around me. What were they? Bricks? Roofs? Tables? Woods? Trees? Everything. I tried to move, in spite of my injuries I was still able to. I pushed myself a little further and I felt the blood spitting itself from the worst open wound on my left leg. I looked at it and bit my bottom lip. Oh great, there's a really long cut from my thigh all the way to the knee, and then… there's small holes surrounding the horrible cut.

I checked my chakra level and was relieved to find I was after all, able to heal the long cut. True, the cut was still visible, a scar mark, still red, but it was not as bad as before… and it won't get infected. All I should do now is rest and wait until some of my chakra came back so I can continue healing the wounds little by little. This could take _forever_.

I sighed and looked up from my wound. My eyes widened, not in shock but in pain and despair. I knew this would happen once the _boom_ part slipped in. But I still can't face the pain I felt when I saw all the dead bodies of the people I knew since I was small. Everyone I loved was in there, underneath each other's dead bodies or under the ruins or just hanging on the wall with kunai stabbing every part of them.

I'd never seen what they call Hell before, but this should pretty much be how it looks. Just take out the demons and devils.

The tears could no longer be shed, no need to wonder why… I knew why. I sighed and laid back down at a different position, it's comfortable I realized, it's soft, why is it _soft_? I pushed myself up again and looked at the object I'm leaning on. Orange and black jumpsuit…

"A…" I couldn't find my voice… let alone words.

It's only the jumpsuit; I couldn't find the head or the bottom parts of _his_ body. Was I now shaking? I looked at my hand, eyes unable to leave the horrible body part, oh yeah… I was.

"Na—" my voice trailed off and I found myself sobbing, trashing myself about, hurting… hurt so much, hurting even more… open all the wounds and let's just die. "Ah…" I sobbed at both the pain physically and mentally. I'm not giving up, I wanted to die. I pushed myself up again and once again caught the sight of the jumpsuit.

"_Sakura-chan."_

His warm, lovely face… He didn't deserve to die. He did no wrong, he committed no crime yet he was now dead. Those Akatsuki people… they did horrible things and they were _just _unable to fade away from the universe… things would _certainly_ go so much BETTER without them _alive_!

I screamed and screamed and hit everything around me, leaving cracks and holes. I looked at them and knew right away some of my chakra was back. I hit more things, the trees, the walls, and broke my fist when the chakra was gone again. I winced at the pain. The pain was too much, my hand, my wounds were throbbing badly and the blood was unable to stop. I sobbed and wished I could stop myself from hurting.

But I should continue… if I want all the pain to fade away. I should continue killing myself and just join Naruto and the others. I wonder… they won't like it, right? If… if Naruto was here, he'd be like "What do you think you're _doing_, Sakura-chan? You're a survivor, don't you dare kill yourself! I would die _twice_ seeing you kill yourself!" I smiled at myself, oh boy I'm hallucinating. I walked toward the wall, ready to ram myself right into it and just finish the pain once and for all. And then, I tripped.

I groaned and cursed. _How_ever on Earth was I to trip when there's nothing here? Or at least… that's what I thought. I looked down and my eyes widened in shock. Oh gosh, why was I the one suffering so bad? Oh… please just let me off and let me die… I lost so many blood and so far, I'm still breathing. I knelt in front of the object and took it in my arm.

"Naruto…" I was finally able to find my voice. But I didn't want my voice back. I want Naruto back, I want Ino back, I want Tsunade-sama back, I want my village back, I want –how can I still want him after all he'd done to us- Sasuke-kun back… I want every_one_ and every_thing_ I used to have _BACK_! I want all of them! I want them… why can't I have them?

_Why? Why? Why?_

_Why?_

I screamed again and clutched Naruto –what's left of him- tight into my chest. Let him be me… I'll die as long as the others were able to walk on the Earth once again… please… please give them back to me. I sobbed and sobbed and cried so hard and so loud. But no one would come and cheer me up. Because they're dead.

-*+-*+-*+-

It took me a while until real realization hit me. _Naruto won't want me dead. Especially since I _was_ the only survivor. He'd want me to survive and tell the story of how _our_ village used to be. About the brave shinobi that used to _live. I clutched his head tightly into me and stood up. I looked around and I could saw Konoha before the destruction. The people smiling at each other, all the warmness, and my friends… were waiting for me just right in front of Tsunade-sama's office. I could saw Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san right behind the glass window. Kakashi-sensei on the tree.

Naruto, smiling widely.

Ino, waving at me.

Shikamaru, yawning.

Tenten, grinning widely.

Neji, looking bored.

Lee-san, his thumb up at me with his manly grin.

Kiba and Akamaru, looking good as usual.

Shino, no emotion shown.

Chouji, eating his chips.

Hinata, fidgeting and blushing next to Naruto.

Kakashi-sensei, reading his perverted book.

Tsunade-sama, waving her sake.

Shizune-san, trying to calm her down.

This was how Konoha should be… if these people never got here. Now, this scene was just a memory. A nice memory that I should just kept to myself. Suicide was now a bad decision. Naruto won't greet me nicely when I get to the other side. He might even kill me _again_. I giggled at the thought and sighed. I sat myself down and leaned in front of Tsunade-sama's office, just remembering all the nice memories happening here. And every time I regain some chakra, I would use them to heal my open wounds. And by the next morning, all the wounds were finally gone, except for the small cuts that didn't need to be healed. I looked at all the bodies and smiled.

Time to get working!!

-*+-*+-*+-

For the next ten hours, I worked myself up. I dig holes and buried all the people of Konoha. I knew I hadn't got all of them because some of them were under the ruins. But I was not _that_ strong to actually able to move a big piece of wall. I sighed and looked at all the crosses I made out of pieces of wood I found in the forest while looking for something to eat.

I stood in front of what used to be the gateway into a village called Konoha, looked at all the graves I made, smiled at myself, and bowed deeply for about a minute. And then I straightened myself up, wiped away the tears, let the cold breeze touch my face, and turned my back from my village and from the people I loved. Oh, they will _never_ leave me… they'll stay on living in a place you know where. Physically, yes they had left me. But I'll keep on going, because that's how Naruto would want me to do.

And so, today, I shall leave Konoha and open a new page to the new step I'm about to take.

If someone ever asked about Konoha, help me spread the words will you? Just tell them "It's a village where great and brave shinobis lived." And that would be enough.

Okay, guys. Watch me now.

-*+-*+-*+-

Hi again. Don't worry, it's not over yet. It's ItaXSaku remember? ^^

I watched _Twilight_ today and it's Oh-SOME! Some parts were twisted around and Jasper is TOTALLY u-glee… but it's still really good^^

~me sweets lover.


	3. Unwanted Encounter

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

Author's note: Thanks to _ozeki_ for telling me the actual age of Deidara and Kisame. I edited it already.

-*+-*+-*+-

Chapter Two: Unwanted Encounter.

I ran and ran. _Gosh_! How stupid?! I needed to get to the next village _as soon as I can_ and just hid there, just blend in until it's over. Argh! I cursed myself over and over again. I knew it was _not_ a good idea to steal meal from a SOUND NINJA and yet I _did_! I was not fully healed; I hadn't eaten anything except berries from the forest. But I _just_ had to be smart enough to steal from the Jounin of the Sound Village.

I knew they were right behind me, I couldn't stop now. They saw my forehead protector; it'd be so much safer to just take them off before I left but now this protector was the only thing that bonded me with Konoha, physically, and now that they freaking _saw_ it they're basically going to kill me. It should be a piece of cake if my chakra was full, but it was not. I had no choice but to run. But now they'd seen both my forehead protector and saw my pink hair, taking off the protector would do me no good. Stupid pink-trademarked-hair!

I looked back for a second and could saw them just fifty meter away from me; I panicked and raised my speed. I jumped through the trees and leaped as far as I could.

I squinted and smirked widely when I saw a village waiting for me. I ran faster, leaped further and stopped when I was in the middle of the crowd. I looked for a store, any store and slipped myself right into it. I stood behind the door of whatever store this was and waited until the presence of chakra I recognized went away. After a while, it did and I double checked whether these shinobi might just cover their chakra and they did not, they're really gone. I sighed, relieved and turned around.

"Ah!" I screamed, startled.

"Jeez, chill will you, Sakura?" the man with purple line on parts of his face (both his cheeks, across his nose, and his chin) looked at me, shocked expression on his face.

I looked at Kankurou and relaxed all my tense muscles at once. I slumped onto the floor and looked at the horrible looking puppet I saw before. I hit the puppet aside gently and sighed. I ran all the way to Suna… amazing…, I didn't even realized I stepped into the desert. But now I felt more alone than ever; when I'm supposed to feel the opposite way with Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou and all the Suna villagers here.

"What brings you here?" Kankurou looked confused, of _course_ he's confused, look at _me_! Look at all the scars and bruises that I won't heal since it wasted more of my chakra. "You looked smashed. Do you want to see Gaara to report something? What happened to _you_?! Got attacked?"

What on Earth was he blabbering about? Was I too confused to be able to comprehend?? I guess so. I shook my head once, twice and I could finally understand what he's talking about.

"Yes, please." I said after a while, I thought through his utmost important question again and again until I was sure, I _should_ tell Gaara that Konoha was destroyed; that it was gone. Kankurou looked at me for a while, his expression puzzled and I knew mine was blank. He sighed and nodded and then we were in front of Gaara's office.

"He's all yours," Kankurou said and I nodded. I watched him until he was gone.

I stood in front of the office for a long time, just staring at the door. Should I really knock? Should I tell him? How would he react when he know Naruto's dead? How would _I_ control myself in order to avoid the emotional outbreak? I shook my head and took a deep breathe. I _have_ to tell him, he _needed _to know. I looked at my shaking hand and knocked at the door.

"Come in." His ice cold voice called back. I opened the door with shaky hands and closed the door behind me. I held my hands behind my back, trying to hide the movement.

Gaara sat behind his desk, his eyes examined every piece of papers he was holding, a bunch of papers were still waiting on his left. Garbage bin on his right, full of unwanted papers.

It reminded me of Tsunade-sama, except she would be drinking her sake instead of actually reading every piece of important information, and she would be panicking when she saw me entered her office. I giggled and Gaara's eyes left the paper and were fixed at me. I nearly jumped; it was different but still… I could feel the loneliness. Oh my gosh, Sakura, don't do this… you're _stupid_! Gaara would break! Oh, what should I do?

"Hello, Haruno-san," he addressed me, nodding in acknowledgement. I nodded back at him and clutched my fists, hoping the shaking would stop. But it didn't. And to make it worse, he seemed to notice the shaking; he ignored it though; to my relief. "What brings you here today?"

I was still thinking hard on what to say that I hadn't paid any slightest attention on him. He looked at me, his eyes confused and curious, but also anxious. Maybe my shaking did affect him after all.

"Umm… excuse me?" I asked him back. He frowned, his statue-like-forehead creased.

"I said, what brings you here today?" he repeated and I blinked.

"Uh…" I racked my brain for an excuse, _any_ excuse! "I was just looking around, and was… um…" Come on, Sakura! Think of _anything_! "Just wondering whether you need my help around here or not, just in case a war is going."

His eyes narrowed. Of course he'd figured it out! It was such a lame lie! But then he shrugged, thank goodness he's a complete opposite of Naruto, he didn't care much about me.

"No, we don't," he said. "If _you_ need anything, you can just ask."

And right then, I knew exactly what I needed.

"Can I rest here for a night?" I said. "Just asking for permission." I answered his confused stare.

"Sure," he said. "Anything else?"

I shook my head and walked backwards toward the door and then yelped when my back hit the door. He looked up from his papers again and frowned at me.

"Is everything okay, Haruno-san?" he stood up from his chair and walked toward me. Uh-oh, this _cannot_ be good! "You're a bit off today, what's happening at Konoha? I heard Sound ninjas attacked the village, how come you're here today? With no exact intention at all."

I was trembling badly now. Please… don't cry. I blinked rapidly, trying to chase away the hot moisture building up in my eyes. He walked closer and closer. It was not the Sound ninjas attacking our village, Tsunade-sama made that up just so Suna wouldn't send reinforcement to help us. They would if they knew it was actually the Akatsuki that attacked us. But it was true the Sound village interrupted us and was actually adding our burden in fighting the Akatsuki.

"Ah…" I was ready to scream and ran away. "Don't come near me… please…"

I stared at him and my vision shifted.

He was there, a shinobi from Sound. Don't come closer, where's my kunai? I couldn't find them? Why was he smiling so wide? Why was he reaching out to touch me? Stay away from me… go away! I felt my chakra started building up inside of me. I screamed and—

—punched my fist toward Gaara. I blinked and realized it was just an old vision coming back, a bad memory. Luckily enough –for him-, Gaara's sand actually stopped me from hitting his face. The sand surrounded me and I stared at him with shocked expression. He looked as shocked as I am.

"Is everything okay, Haruno-san?" he was anxious now. "What happened at Konoha?"

He released me from his sand and I dropped to the floor.

"Ow." I muttered, looking at him.

"Tell me," he threatened. I shook my head, scared.

"Stay away from me, please…" I begged.

He sighed and walked back to his seat.

"You chose not to tell—" And I wasn't thinking right when he said: "I'll escort you back to Konoha, everyone must be worried." I just know I needed to tell him before it was too late and things were far worst.

"Everyone's dead." I cut him. He froze and turned his face at me, shock covered his mask and I stood up, ready to run away. I'll just grab some bread and chips later at the market. All that matter now was to run away before seeing his agonized expression. "I'm the only survivor. Everyone in the village is dead. Konoha doesn't exist anymore."

And then, before he could say anything, I dashed out from the room. Running passed Kankurou who yelled my name, passed Temari who looked at me confusedly, passed all the villagers. I grabbed some bread and chips as I'd planned, ignoring the sellers' yells and curses.

Then, I was out of Suna. I stopped running when I was finally able to find a stream. My breathing were heavy, my tears were trickling down my cheeks and into the stream's water. I looked at my reflection. A pink-haired girl with almost soulless expression, her eyes were just a shade of dulled green pearl. Her hair was messy but her forehead protector stayed in place. Her face was filthy and her tears were streaming like waterfall from her eyes. It was me… look at _me_! I'm a mess! Of course I am; what, you expected me to look all pretty when I was feeling impossibly alone and miserable?

"Argh!" I groaned, I hit the water with my fists until the reflection blurred away. And then I washed myself as soon as I could. I ate the bread and chips I stole and drank the water from the stream. I sighed and looked at the sky. The clouds were just so white, looking at it: felt like nothing had changed.

I was so tired, I needed the sleep. I yawned and slowly dozed off. Dreaming…

-*+-*+-*+-

My eyes snapped open. I looked around, looking for my kunai and this time I found them, I took both of the kunai into my hands and was now in a fighting stance. My breathing was fast again, I looked around: eyes working on the trees; I didn't see anyone. I sighed and sat down again. I swore I was awaked because of the sound of a broken twig.

Or maybe that was a dream, but it _sounded_ real. I sighed and walked to the stream; I washed my face and looked at the moon: a crescent moon. I stood up and was about to leap off: going… to places I'd never been to before, I guess. But I was interrupted, by the least person I would love to see, even though I still wanted him _back._

"Who are you?"

I looked back to see the same pair of black eyes staring at mine. He frowned and I saw a red-haired girl, a big guy, and another guy with sharp teeth and big sword coming out from the shadow of the trees right after he spoke those words. He examined me, frowning again and smirked. A smirk that made me wanted to cry and to hit his face until it was disordered.

"Sakura," he said. And the 'oh, it's you loser' tone was in his voice. "Look at you, why are you so filthy? What happen to Konoha?"

I stared at him for a long time until I was able to control myself. I tried hard to _just_ talk to him instead of beating him up.

"Why do you want to know?" I said my voice hoarse. "I was just leaving, leave me alone."

"Oh." He said, frowning again, confused at my sudden coldness toward him. "I was just passing by too. I'm going to go destroy Konoha, instead you wanted to send the message along to your Hokage."

And that was the last of my patient he put off. Let the words of hatred hit him bad. He's not worth the punch… and chakra.

"Oh then it's too bad, _Uchiha_," I snapped. "You should've been there sooner, Konoha is gone."

His eyes widened, he tensed and the three people around him glared at me, the girl was getting ready to fight me and I clutched my fists. Sasuke stopped her though and she blushed when he touched her shoulder. His girlfriend? Or me when we were all together?

"What do you _mean_?" his tone cold. I stared into his black eyes.

"Exactly that," I said. "It was gone. And I was the only survivor. Bet you wish you were there, huh Uchiha? Then you'll be the one giving me all this scars and you might also be the one that ends Naruto's…" I hesitated and grabbed my right fist with my left hand to stop the shaking; I bit my bottom lip to hold back the tears and sighed. "Life." I finished the word. Sasuke looked at me, pity in his eyes but I didn't need it. It's over… me and he, the bond was now officially over.

"Sakura…" he stepped forward but I backed away, reflectively. He looked at me, eyes curious and I shook my head.

"The bond was over, Sasuke," I said, I felt the tears on the edge of my eyes. He sighed again and took another step. And then he smirked.

"Good." He said. "Then now I can just easily kill you. Karin, go."

His words shocked me, but I knew I shouldn't be shocked. Typical him. And the bond was over.

"You sure Sasuke?" the big-sword guy looked uncertain.

"Calm down, Suigetsu," Sasuke said. "I know her, even Karin would be enough."

Then this girl Karin was that weak, huh? I feel bad for her now. Sasuke, as usual, were just using her. What's her ability? Reading good chakra? Guess Sasuke need chakra readers… in order to beat the shinobis of Konoha. But Akatsuki did his job for him already. I felt the anger built up in me. I clenched my right fist and when she's near me, I hit her so hard she hit the trees and was rolling all the way into the forest. All we can hear was the rumbling and tumbling and cracking of the broken trees.

Sasuke looked at me; his eyes were wide with shock. I looked at him back, I wish I could just kill him but I knew he'd be far stronger than me. So I just straightened myself up and leaped off.

I was in the forest when I felt a _thud_ on my back and everything went black.

-*+-*+-*+-

Hey, how was it guys? I friggin' watch _Twilight_ twice and was bored.

Jasper was not that ugly, Edward was getting uglier, while Jacob was just getting so much HOTTER^^

~me sweets lover.


	4. Grave of the Fireflies

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. The title I got from the movie "Grave of the Fireflies". 

Author's Note: The movie "Grave of the Fireflies" is a movie worth watching, it's sure to touch your hearts and make you cry. I sort of took the idea from the movie in which Setsuko died and turned into fireflies. 

P.S. In the movie, Seita, Setsuko's brother, also died and turned into fireflies but I'm not going to use that one.

-*+-*+-*+-

Chapter Three: Grave of the Fireflies.

"She's a mess."

Huh? What?

"Look at her; I wonder how bad Pein hurt her."

Wha—

Who? Whose voices were these? I heard them somewhere… I couldn't remember where, though. I felt the cold breeze hitting the back of my head, my hair must be really messy right now; I felt them slapping my face. I couldn't open my eyes, was I too tired then? I just used some of my chakra to hit that red-head. Then why?

"Her chakra is not as big as the Kyuubi-boy but it seemed, at the time of the explosion, he gave her some of his chakra," another voice came in. And then a long pause. "I don't know how." This man seemed to answer the look the other one gave him. "Her chakra is originally big enough, almost as big as yours, Kisame. And then once the Kyuubi-boy, _Naruto_-san," only by hearing his name, it hurt me so badly I wish I was dead. "Gave some of his chakra to her, her chakra is massive. And it seemed the process for his chakra to adapt to her body made all of her chakra gone for about a week and then made her felt really weak, but once the process is complete, her chakra will be massive; almost as big as the Kyuubi's chakra."

Are they serious? Was what they're saying actually _real_? Who are _they_ anyways? I struggled to consciousness and felt my body twitched. This someone who was carrying me seemed to feel it to for he stopped.

"What's happening, Itachi-san?"

Itachi? Sasuke's brother? The one who killed his entire clan members? Great, just my luck. Why did I keep on bumping into the wrong people? I budged again and I felt his hands on my shoulder, I was now floating?

I opened my eyes with force and was forced to stare into a pair of crimson eyes. But… these eyes had sharingan in them. It was Itachi all along. I saw his picture from one of the files Tsunade-sama needed me to destroy. She said Itachi was killed by Sasuke already. Was she wrong then? For me, yes, she was terribly wrong. Because now; here he was, staring at me by the eyes.

And then he smirked and I frowned, even when I was impossibly terrified I was still able to actually _frown_?!

"Lucky for you," he smirked. "We'll be visiting your village. Or what was left of it."

I was shaking so he held be tighter with both his hands. I looked at him.

"What do you want there?" my voice was shaking. "There's nothing left, can't you just leave it alone?"

"We got some business," a guy with big sword and shark teeth smirked. He looked like that guy Sasuke had with him… were they related? "And our leader hates to wait."

Itachi sighed and put me on his back. I looked at the trees passing by as he leaped, my hair was slapping my face again and I cried. My tears were brought by the wind away from his vision, so there's no way he'd seen it.

"Your Naruto is alive, don't cry," he said and I froze, my trembling stopped at once and I tried to see him but was unable to.

"What?" I lowered my voice so only he can hear.

"I said your Naruto is alive," he repeated. So I hadn't heard the wrong thing. Naruto… was _alive_?! "And stop crying, you're one of the strongest kunoichi our leader had ever encountered, he'd be disappointed once he know you're a _cry-baby_."

I sighed and ignored his last sentence. I was smiling all the way toward Konoha. Because now I knew one thing that made it all brighter: _Naruto was alive_. And then we stopped and he put me down.

I looked at the graves I made and the fish-stick guy whistled.

"D'you do _this_, girl?" he looked at me; I looked at him and nodded. "Heh, not bad. But you hadn't got all of the villagers, eh?"

"You expect me to be able to push away the roofs and walls easily?" I looked at him, annoyed. "You're looking for the wrong girl."

"You could just crush them with your insane power," he said and I shot him a look. Strange; I wasn't afraid of this fish-stick now that I knew Naruto was alive, now that I knew I was not alone. But Itachi still frightened me. My inner-self kept on telling me he was dangerous. Too dangerous.

"I got no chakra left," I said and I walked around, looking for Naruto's grave. And then I found it. It was the easiest because I buried him in front of Ichiraku Ramen, the one place he'd love to die at. I smiled and looked at the ground, there was a hole and I panicked, the body was gone. I looked around and saw Itachi. A bag on his back, he handed them to fish-stick and then he turned to me.

"We got Naruto-san," he said and he jumped only to land in front of me. "It's time to go."

I sighed and walked with them until the edge of the village; I looked up at the ruins of the gate and clenched my fists. This shall be, I believe, the last time I'd see my village again. I might die after this and might never be able to return. Even if I survive, I had no idea how long until I was able to return.

Itachi and fish-stick looked at me; Itachi's expression was emotionless while fish-stick's was confused. I sighed and ran toward the Hokage tower. Fish-stick screamed my name and yelled to Itachi that I tried to run away, but I heard no reply from Itachi. I ignored that and kept on running. I dashed into the building and up the stairs. From all the buildings, this was the only one standing still. I arrived at the roof and looked at Konoha. I walked to the edge of the roof, the spot where Tsunade-sama used to stood, looking at Konoha just to make her felt peaceful. And then I broke.

I screamed and cried. And then I screamed again and again. I yelled words I understood and people up there would too. "_We will be together soon, so please don't forget me because I won't. If I survive I promise I will come back. Please keeps on living and give me signs to know that you're all are actually alive." _I yelled the words again and again and then after a while it was just screams with no words.

And then I stopped and coughed, again and again. I looked up at Konoha, at the ruins and at the graves. I saw yellow dots coming out from the black ground. The moon was gone when I looked up. I roughly wiped off my tears from my eyes and cheeks and stared at the yellow dots, dumb-founded. They came out from the graves… were they fireflies? I squinted and gasped.

They _were_ fireflies! I smiled at laughed as I saw them going up toward the sky. I turned, stopped suddenly when I saw Itachi waiting by the stairs, but then I ignored him –even though I am frightened by him, I knew he won't hurt me, since it seemed he needed me… or his leader needed me- and ran down the stairs. I bumped into fish-stick on my way out and he yelled again.

"What's gotten into her?!" I heard him yelled, Itachi… he's fast. Or maybe he just jumped down the roof. I don't care… for now.

I ran and stopped in the middle of the fireflies. And then I laughed and spun round and round. And then I stopped and cried again, but my eyes never left the sky.

The fatigue was coming back. Oh, please… I needed to see the end of this. Please… don't go back to "sleep". I blinked a couple of times and then smiled as the end of them disappeared behind the dark clouds and when the moon came back.

Darkness returned to me and I was unconscious.

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Another one done.

Sorry for the late update, it might get later since I really need to finish chapter one of my PP story. And since I got this history essay due Thursday, and the rough draft actually due Tuesday.

Thanks for reading you guys.

Please review though, anonymous accepted but please… no mean words==

P.S. feedbacks would be appreciated very much^^

~me sweets lover.


	5. Second Encounter: Petals

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it.

Author's Note: I might not update the next chapter fast. Sorry you guys.

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Chapter Four: Second Encounter: Petals.

"She's crazy, I tell you." I heard fish-stick said, Kisame was his name, wasn't it?

I decided to not move a muscle; I wasn't able to _move_ a muscle would explain it. Just listening to their conversation was enough to fill my head with classified information, like _why_ didn't they kill me yet? And _how_ can Naruto still be alive when I saw his head, I _hugged_ his head.

"She got all excited just by seeing fireflies," Kisame continued his complains. "I wonder why Pein need her; she's just a medic-nin."

And here, Itachi finally spoke.

"A _very_ good medic-nin, Kisame," he said, tone emotionless as usual. "She'll come in handy in what we need to do to Naruto-san."

…

What? What should I do to _Naruto_?? Confusion filled me; every guess that came to my mind was impossibly fiction-like and too horrible to think of.

But I couldn't help but wonder… maybe they needed me to released Kyuubi, maybe they wasn't able to do so, maybe Naruto was a special case to them. Or maybe they wanted me to attach all of Naruto's limbs together and bring him to life: the way Chiyo-baasama took Gaara back to life… but that means I had to die. Won't it be a worthless effort then? Because _if_ I was to take Naruto back to life, they would just take his life away from him again on the extraction of the Kyuubi, then… what should I do?

I shuddered at the thought and cursed myself silently inside; he'd know I was awake! I closed my eyes tightly and was waiting until he stopped but he didn't. I relaxed my muscle when he kept on going. It was not such a big deal to tell him I was awake, but I didn't want to. Because if I was to see his face, I won't be able to help myself; I'd asked him _why_ they needed me and what were they going to do to Naruto. And I'd just added more fatigue to myself. So I waited and closed my eyes, and not surprisingly, I dozed off.

I was awake again when I felt the chilly wind hit me. I opened my eyes but I didn't see anyone other than the lake in front of me. Itachi and Kisame were nowhere in sight. I moved my hand and just realized that a warm fabric was covering me up, I looked down and saw the black cloak with red clouds on it. Was it Itachi's or Kisame's? Whoever owned this cloak might only lend it to me because I was some sort of important asset for the moment. I shuddered again as the chill hit my bare shoulder. I wrapped the cloak around me and walked toward the lake.

I looked around and saw none of them.

"Hey, isn't that the girl we encountered earlier today?"

I turned around only to see someone I wished I would never saw anymore; Uchiha Sasuke… and his new team. Great, just my luck. I wonder if my chakra was full now. But didn't Itachi said it would take… umm, a week? Or was it a month? Oh. He didn't say anything; he'd just said the process will take a _while_, right?

Great, I'm trashed now. For the first time today, I wished Itachi and Kisame were here.

"Why is she wearing the Akatsuki robe?" the man with shark teeth said, he might be Kisame's son, no? They looked alike… or maybe they just came from the same village. Then it's freaky, all of them looked alike… like sharks. I wonder if they live underwater then. Maybe their ancestors were sharks. Then they're "allergic" to seafood? Because it meant killing their friends. I wonder if they speak sharks' language.

Wait.

WHAT THE HELL WAS I _THINKING_?!

My death awaited _right_ in front of me and all I could think of was… _sharks_?! I shook my head to chase away the stupid thoughts. And then I saw the red-head coming out. She looked fine, except she still got the bruise I gave her. Was she a medic-nin too? I didn't remember encountering any villages, but half the trip I was asleep…

"I'll kill you, _bitch_!" she cursed. I sighed, such language. And then someone touched her shoulder, she blushed (this blushing scene must be a routine), and then moved aside. Sasuke appeared behind her, eyes curious but he wasn't able to hide his murderous intention from me.

"Are you in the Akatsuki already, Sakura?" he asked, his tone curious. "My." And then his old smirk that I hated so much came back. "Aren't you fast? Konoha was just burnt to the ground and now you're joining the team that killed everyone you love. Seems like I'm not the only betrayer here."

I froze. I didn't betray anybody… I didn't kill anyone… I won't do—

But what if I _had_ to? Would I? Would I sell Naruto to these fiends? Would I do such thing to my _best-friend_?

"Now go, Karin," Sasuke said, his tone bored. "She won't feel a thing by now, and _don't miss_."

Karin smirked an evil smirk. No wonder she's with Sasuke. They looked alike with their arrogant smirks. I clenched my fists but that was all I could do, I was too shocked from his statement… Would I really betray my village? Would I betray all of them that died to protect Naruto?

She walked toward me, a katana in her hand. I stared at the katana and smiled slightly. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Sasuke hesitated. This would be good… I should die now, before I did things… horrible things. I didn't want to be someone that betrayed my village, even though the last remaining of the village were graveyards, destroyed buildings, and my forehead protector.

I sighed and closed my eyes and I felt the katana stabbed slightly into me. I tried my best not to twitch; if I did, Sasuke might soften up and stopped this red-head.

And then the blade got deeper and deeper. But before it went through, it was gone.

I opened my eyes and saw the red-head girl gone. I looked to my right and saw her lying on the ground.

"Geez, pinky," I sighed and turned to face fish-stick and Itachi. "We left you for only a few minutes and here you are, about to get killed. Can't you just repel all of those misfortunes from you?"

"Unfortunately, fish-stick," I smiled slightly at his nickname; he looked shocked that I called him 'fish-stick', I was relived that Itachi managed to smile a little. "It seemed, now, I'm a magnet to disaster, trouble, misfortune, and all that."

"What. Did. You. Call. _Us_?" I turned to the one in Sasuke's team, he looked angry. Oh, I guess I offended him too, no wonder… they _did_ look alike.

"I didn't mean to offend you," I told him but he ignored me. He snarled and dashed toward me, I was shocked of course. Reflectively however, I jumped backward to dodge his big sword. Itachi caught me just in time before I fell into the lake.

"Suigetsu?" Kisame looked at the boy, shocked in his eyes.

"Oh shoot!" Suigetsu cursed once he realized who the guy I called 'fish-stick' was. See, I _knew_ they were related. "Hey, uncle."

_Uncle_?! All of our jaws dropped; well… actually it's only mine. Since the red-head was still unconscious, Itachi seemed to know, Sasuke kept his cool, and this big guy… just didn't have any expression at all.

"What are you doing here? Are you a missing-nin too?" Kisame's tone was harsh.

"Please don't tell mom," Suigetsu begged. "She'll kill me, you know how she is! She'll throw me into an aquarium full of electric ell and she won't allow me to go above water so often anymore!"

Wow. They _do_ live underwater.

"Ah! But! Argh!" Kisame was speechless. "What did you _tell_ her? She'd _kill_ me too if she knew I knew what she don't know!!" he looked at me. "I still need to keep contact with her; I am her younger brother after all." He answered my confused expression.

"I told her nothing," Suigetsu said, still looking cautious. "They all thought I was either killed or shark-napped."

_Shark­_-napped. Wasn't I supposed to be in misery and pain? Wasn't my journey supposed to be scary or dull? Then I wonder why _this_ journey brought so much… _fun_.

I laughed out loud and the two fish guys glared at me. Itachi smirked and realized that Sasuke was staring at him.

"Itachi…" Sasuke's tone was shocked. "I _thought_ I killed you!" And I was shocked when I figured out there was no hatred in his voice, not even a single edge. It almost sounded glad. But I'd be crazy if that's true.

Itachi looked at him, and then he smiled, a _brotherly_ smile. Okay, this' getting weirder by the second.

"Who _knew_?" He said. "It was my clone that you fight with all along; I was able to develop a bunshin jutsu where the clone won't 'pop' when hit. They will however…" and here he stopped and then sighed. "Why do I even bother telling you?"

He waited until I was able to gain my balance and then he let me go.

"We should just kill you." Now, where did the _brotherly_ feeling went to? A second ago his smile was so kind and now he's talking about _killing_?

I froze _again_. I stared at Itachi as his crimson eyes burned with murderous intention, he's not kidding?! And then I hit him. I thought I hit him softly but it seemed I used more chakra that intended and it sent him flying.

Both I and Kisame gasped. Kisame looked at me as if I'm dead, oh, I _will_ be. I looked at the unmoving Itachi at the distance and then a hand caught my neck and pulled it backward. All of my nerve system shut down right away and I forgot how to gasp.

And then soft lips kissed it. And then, I remember how to _blush_.

"That's not very nice, Sakura-san," Itachi's cold voice rang in my ear. "I could kill you if you hit the _real_ me."

He let go of me and I turned around to saw his eyes colder than usual. He's mad at me. I shuddered and was shaking but I hid my hands behind my back and grabbed my left hand really tight with my right and it felt as if I just broke it. Oh well, I could heal it anytime… I hope.

I looked at Kisame for help; he gave me the _"what the hell are you doing?!" _And I shot him back the look _"I'm not thinking!"_

"What's your mission?" Sasuke asked. "How come I never see you in HQ?"

Itachi looked at Sasuke and his eyes narrowed. He seemed to realize something only he and Sasuke knew.

"You joined Akatsuki too, Sasuke?" he asked, he let whatever bothering him drop, and Sasuke nodded slightly, this sent me a jolt and then the hatred for Sasuke filled me even more. Itachi continued answering: "Tobi don't want me back yet, he sent me and Kisame, Kakuzu, Hidan, and Deidara to different missions, our last mission was to _destroy_ Konoha."

This sent a jolt through me again; I really hated them right now. And I realized how _wrong_ it was to feel good being with them. I hated myself! Tears built up and I wiped them off violently.

"I see," Sasuke said.

"What's your mission?" Itachi asked him.

"My team captured the eight-tailed demon, and then I just sent my team off to destroy Konoha." And this triggered it. I thought of how much fun I had just now with the people that _killed_ everyone I loved, and I hated myself for that. I thought of how evil these people were to kill innocents just to get hold of Naruto, and how Sasuke sent himself to destroy his _own_ hometown.

I took out my broken left hand and healed it with my right. And then I bit my thumb and blood came dripping.

"Pinky?" Kisame looked at me, confused.

Itachi looked at me too and then sighed. He carried me on his back before I could do the jutsu, and then he turned to Sasuke.

"I'll see you back." Itachi said.

And then we leapt off, before Sasuke was out of sight, I saw the Sakura petals from the trees around the lake came fluttering toward the lake, passing Sasuke. I saw him took one petal and I saw his eyes were filled with unfathomable sadness. Then the trees covered everything.

I stayed quiet for the rest of the journey. Fighting back the feeling of pleasure I had when I was with them. Filling myself with despair and sorrow, I remembered how things were before they came and even though I did had fun with them; I still wished they were dead. So everything would be just fine and no one was dead.

I would still be fighting with Sai and Naruto under Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-taichou's guidance. I'll still be Tsunade-sama's apprentice and still able to talked to Ino when I had problems.

But we all know it was now impossible. And I just couldn't hate myself enough for having fun with their murderers. _Naruto_ was still alive though and this made me smile.

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Sorry for the weird plot in this chapter. I was confused on how the story would go, at first I didn't want Sasuke be in the Akatsuki _yet_, but then I remembered. In this story, Sasuke _thought_ he'd killed Itachi so that meant Tobi get hold of him already and told the entire story about why Itachi killed his clan.

And so, I came up with a really lame chapter here. I'm not supposed to be bothered by the conflicts cuz this is supposed to be ItaXSaku story but I can't help myself. I'll put more romance in the later chapters.

P.S. Thank you for all that reviewed this story and Blood & Innocence: The Blue-Eyed Vampire. The update for that story will soon follow, I hope^^

~me sweets lover.


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